I always seem to feel bad for the deer who have ended up as hunting trophies.

Lately it seems that the Fridays I had free to visit Rogers were filled with rain, and when it didn’t rain I had other obligations. Finally the stars and moon aligned and today was a Rogers day! I headed up early this morning, joined by friend and former student, Eric Price. As always, you just don’t know what is going to show at Rogers. Today was a particularly good day for metal and a particularly bad one for deer. Unless you wanted a deer head for hanging on your wall, then I suppose it would have been a very good day for you. I don’t quite understand the animal-parts-on-a-wall mentality. I don’t judge, but I do think it’s weird.

A life-size Barbie!

Not often do I run across a life-size Barbie doll. I guess I’ve NEVER seen a life-size Barbie until today! According to the present owner, our nearly six foot tall plastic friend was made for Bloomingdales back in 1984. Big Barbie was not priced, and I didn’t ask what the dealer was asking for her. In hindsight, I am a bit curious what the owner thought his Barbie was worth. Oh well!

Lots of stuff look at today!

I was able to find several cans with good color or interesting patterns, along with a stack of what appear to be uncut Coca-Cola playing card box lids. Each one shows a woman from an old Coca-Cola ad. I am unsure how I will use them, but I am thinking they will make good patterns for backgrounds. We’ll see what happens.

First load of “art materials” back to the truck. The aforementioned Coca-Cola uncut lids can be seen in front of the electric drill display board.

Now all this walking and looking and buying art materials causes one to work up an appetite. There is no better place to fill your belly at Rogers than at Paisano’s Pizza! I used to hear my dad use the term “paisano” when he would run into a friend back in Steubenville, Ohio. It means countryman or brother in Italian, and is the equivalent of “homie” to Italians and Italian-Americans. But I degres. I love pizza: the taste, the smell, the sight of a piping hot slice. Finding a good slice of pizza is not always easy, and finding good pizza at a flea market is almost unheard of. However, Paisano’s is the real deal!

Damn good pizza!

I had to take a bite before I took this photo!

Stomachs full, we get back to the job at hand: more walking and more looking at junk!

Artist Eric Price, looking for anything that can be turned into a sculpture tool. You can check out Eric’s work HERE.

Dealer offering 1950s-60s magazines.

Instant relatives.

Two more deer heads, appearing to be comforting one another.

Near noon the sun is strong and Rogers is heating up. Time to take the last load to the truck and call it a day. Until next time, stay junky my friend, and don’t forget that the flea market can also be your “art materials store!”

Chris Villamagna speaking with our friend, painter Robert Peterson, at our booth shortly after the morning rain stopped. Five of my pieces went to new homes by the end of the day. Robert Peterson has been working on a painting series of the urban landscape of Wheeling. In 2012 Robert and I had a joint exhibition titled “Growing Up in Black and White”.

The fourth annual Wheeling Arts Fest was held Saturday, June 21 on and around the campus of West Virginia Northern Community College in downtown Wheeling, WV. This event is presented by the City of Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission,of which my wife Chris, and I, are part of. The Arts Fest is an admission-free event that offers a wide variety of arts and cultural programs, including live music, artist market, theatre, dance, spoken word, culinary demos, free artist workshops in a variety of media, and much more.

These guys are now the proud owners of a Villamagna.

Artist Bob Sako was my neighbor at Arts Fest.

Artist Liz Neuman shows off a pastel painting that she purchased from Bob Sako.

Shortly after getting our booth up the rain came! It rained hard and steady for about 30 minutes, keeping away only the hardiest of visitors. Luckily, the rest of the day was cloudy yet dry, permitting Pittsburgh’s Squonk Opera, one of the headline acts of Arts Fest, to draw a big crowd at each of their three performances.

Thats me on the left, ceramic artist Lambros Tsuhlares center, and the amazing Roy on the right. As our dear late friend Paul Padgett used to say, “If you want to get noticed, make it big, and if you can’t make it big, make it red!”

West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman in the Literary Arts tent.

No Arts Fest is complete without a visit from Stewie!

Sculptor Eric Price checks out paintings by artist Victoria Lavorini.

At the end of the day, the 4th annual Wheeling Arts Fest could be labeled a huge success! Many thanks to the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, it’s volunteers, sponsors and all the artists and performers who helped make it happen!